This invention relates to a spare wiper element for a wiper blade for motor vehicles, and to a method of mounting the spare wiper element in a wiper blade.
The wiper rubber element of typical wiper blades consists of a basic body and of a wiper lip which is held on the basic body by means of a tiltable web. The basic body includes a longitudinal groove on both sides, into which groove a spring bar is laterally inserted. The spring bar is protected against longitudinal displacement by holding elements on the wiper rubber element. In general a rib on the wiper rubber serves as a holding element, which rib engages laterally in a notch in the spring bar. The spring bars are secured against laterally removal from the longitudinal groove by holding claws on clawed yokes of a supporting yoke system carrying the wiper rubber element.
When the wiper blade has a construction of this type, manual assembly is carried out with difficulty. For this reason a spare wiper element consisting of wiper rubber and the two spring bars is rarely offered on the market for an exchange of the wiper elements originally installed as standard fittings. Accordingly, the completely assembled wiper blade normally is exchanged. This is preferred for reasons of safety, but on the other hand the cost involved is considerable.
The present invention therefore is directed to creating a spare wiper element for a wiper blade of this type which can be mounted relatively easily without special tools.